Wanted suspect apprehended

The Merced County Sheriff’s Department captured one of their most wanted on Sunday.

Antonio Samano, 23, was taken into custody around 6 p.m. Sunday in the 9000 block of Stanford Avenue in Planada.

Samano was wanted for assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at an inhabited dwelling with gang enhancements. The sheriff’s department had issued an arrest warrant for Samano in the amount of $500,000, said sheriff spokesman Deputy Tom MacKenzie.

Samano tried to make an escape by running out the back of the house as the deputies were approaching, but after a short foot pursuit he was apprehended, MacKenzie said.

After searching his room, deputies found a small amount of methamphetamine in a bag on a speaker box next to his bed. Samano admitted that it was meth, MacKenzie said. He was booked into the Merced County Jail on the warrant with the additional charge of possession of methamphetamine.